Ark: Survival Evolved Devs Still Pushing Cross-Play, Ready for Full Release

The devs for Ark: Survival Evolved recently addressed several players' questions related to cross-play potential, whether the game is ready to release, and other hot topics.

Inquiries were sent to Jesse Rapczak, the co-creative director and director of art and technical art by GameSpot recently. All of the questions came straight from the game's players themselves, some of which are likely those who have stuck with the game during its long journey to an upcoming full release.

One of the most relevant questions that was asked in light of recent discussions between console companies was whether or not Xbox Live and Windows 10 players could some day participate in cross-play with users on other platforms.

"We have said it before and we'll say it again -- we want everyone to play together!" Rapczak said in a reply to questions about cross-play possibilities. "While there are no issues with Steam, the main hurdle is Sony's policy against PS4 cross-network play with Xbox. We just don't have the time or resources to make multiple versions of the PC game and servers that support cross play with only one console platform (and it's confusing for end users).When the day comes that Xbox Live and PSN players are allowed to play together, we'll be first in line to support it."

The response echoes sentiments from other games' responses such as Minecraft and Rocket League, all of which are pushing for cross-play potential between users with some success being made so far.

But leading up to the game's release on Aug. 29, some players were concerned with the number of bugs and performance issues that still exist in-game and wanted to know if the devs truly thought it was ready to leave early access.

"We definitely are ready to come out of Early Access, but that doesn't mean we're ending development! Rapczak replied. "Now that the console versions have hit Gold Master, many of the biggest issues in the multiplayer game are being addressed over the next few weeks with the team focused especially on PC optimizations and bug fixing leading up to launch."

Rapczak also stressed that the price of the game at launch offers a great value for newcomers, but the price hasn't sat well with some hopeful players after it was doubled to $60 leading up to its release.

Ark: Survival Evolved is scheduled to fully release on Aug. 29.

[via GameSpot]